India cricketers pay tributes to former captain Ajit Wadekar in England, observe two-minutes silence

London, Aug 16: Indian Cricket Team on Thursday (August 16) observed a two-minute silence in Nottingham to pay their respects to former cricketer and coach Ajit Wadekar, who passed away on August 15 in Mumbai.

The Indian team has reached Nottingham to play the third Test match against England, starting August 18.

India head coach Ravi Shastri, who addressed a press conference in Trent Bridge, termed Wadekar's passing away a huge loss to Indian cricket and hailed his contribution towards the game.

Wadekar, 77, passed away at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai after a prolonged battle against cancer.

Under Wadekar India achieved their first away series win against the West Indies in 1971 and then beat England in the same year.

Wadekar was made the captain of the Indian cricket team in 1971, leading a side that included players like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Farokh Engineer, and the Indian spin quartet that included Bishen Bedi, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and S Venkataraghavan.

Wadekar played 37 Test matches for India scoring 2113 runs with a hundred and 14 fifties. His lone hundred came against New Zealand at Wellington in 1968. The Mumbaikar also appeared in two ODIs for India.

He had made his first-class debut for Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1958-59, before making his Test debut in December 1966, against the West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

After his retirement, Wadekar also served as the manager of the Indian cricket team in the 1990s, alongside captain Mohammad Azharuddin and it was a successful period for Indian cricket as they swept aside opposition at home conditions with Anil Kumble, Venkatpathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan spinning a web.

Wadekar was one of the few Indians to represent the country as a Test player, captain, coach/manager and the chairman of selectors. Lala Amarnath and Chandu Borde are the only other players to achieve this distinction.